Reviews
Mar 13, 2026
SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure is a couch co-op cooking adventure with vibrant, fun graphics and an interesting storyline. Play as Som and Gon while they work together to prepare iconic Southeast Asian dishes while travelling across dangerous Khaya Island. Each level is a little bit different, with a variety of recipes, ingredients, obstacles, and enemies. You’ll have to explore each level to find the ingredients you need, process them in the kitchen, and cook a perfect dish!
Exciting Fun
Now, I played this SEDAP! on easy mode since I played solo, but I had a ton of fun with it. Even on easy mode, the game was just challenging enough not to get boring. Having to hunt down ingredients and sometimes even fight enemies to get the ingredient also adds a bit of freshness to things.
Sprinkling in bits of story between levels was a nice touch, too. This avoids long cutscenes or info-dumping. It’s short little smatterings of cutscenes that give you enough information to set the stage. It also serves to break up the gameplay a little. I also love the variety of dishes that are prepared, as well as the focus being on Southeast Asian food. Too many games use the same cuisine, so this is refreshing!
My one complaint for SEDAP! is the fishing. The minigame for fishing is awful. It ranks up there with the Stardew Valley fishing minigame for me, which I also hate. Tapping a button to align the dot within a bar to fill up the meter is nervewracking in a timed setting. The bar also jumped around so much on some fish, it was difficult to align the dot appropriately. It just wasn’t a nice experience catching fish.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed SEDAP. I binge-played it over a few days and finished pretty quickly. It was great for capturing my attention, but not requiring too much brain space to play. I recommend it for folks who enjoy games like Overcooked, but really want an easy mode for solo play!
You can find this fun game on Steam, Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox!
- Jan 23, 2026
Tiny Bookshop is the cutest and coziest bookshop sim. You have decided to leave your old life behind and move to the charming town of Bookstonbury. There, you open a mobile book store that you can decorate. Recommend books to customers, get to know the locals through engaging dialogue, and uncover town secrets. This relaxing shop sim is perfect for anyone looking for a heartfelt story and calm gameplay.
This is One of the Best Shop Sims
Tiny Bookshop is a combination of narrative game and shop management, so it doesn’t involve the super confusing shop mechanics of other games. You simply stock books on the shelves, then suggest books to the customers who ask, and sit back and relax as you earn money! Decorating can be a little intimidating, as each piece of decor affects your customers. Stack the effects well, and they’ll help rocket your modest shop into a local hot spot. That said, you can deck out your little trailer in all kinds of plants if you want the cozy garden look. Or go for the spooky Halloween vibes with candles, cobwebs, and more. Have fun decorating if that’s more your style.
The narrative aspect of Tiny Bookshop is lovely, too. You get to know several different characters beyond just surface-level interactions. Uncover a wholesome storyline as you meet and talk with everyone. This story not only adds personality to the whole game but also breaks up the sameness of daily shopkeeping. Perhaps the most frustrating part of this game is recommending books. The vast majority of the books are ones you can find in real life, but often a customer asks for a specific genre and dislikes the book you recommend. It’s difficult to figure out where the issue lies, as the recommended book does, in fact, fit their criteria. At least there’s no penalty for being wrong; they simply don’t buy a book.
Final Thoughts
I highly recommend Tiny Bookshop to all book lovers and cozy gamers. It’s a calm, relaxing game with an engaging story. Frustrations aside, I greatly enjoyed playing this game. It was perfect after a long day of work. I give it
Tiny Bookshop is on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and is coming to PlayStation.
- Jan 9, 2026
In Catto’s Post Office, you play as Catto, the adorable feline postal delivery cat. Your job is to deliver the mail throughout your vibrant little town. Help out fellow residents, then see if you can complete some hidden achievements, too.
Short and Sweet
I must have missed that the developers clearly state that Catto’s Post Office only has about an hour of gameplay. I was disappointed when I finished the game so quickly because I wanted more of this cute little game. The storyline is wholesome. Exploring the cute, brightly-colored town is fun. Even meeting the residents and finding what micro-activities I can do was nice. I would love to have a bigger town with more to do.
However, the hour I played Catto’s Post Office was truly an enjoyable hour of my day. The game is an excellent palate cleanser as far as games go. It’s short and sweet and lacks any type of pressure to complete. I recommend playing when you need a bit of a breather, because this game is super chill!
Where to Find
You can find this sweet game on Steam now! There are plans for a Nintendo Switch release, too.
- Jan 2, 2026
The title Gemporium: A Cute Mining Sim really tells you all you need to know about this game. You play as Moel, a small mole who has taken over his grandmother’s gemporium business. Spend your days mining for precious gems, refine them so they shine bright, then sell them in your shop. Sounds easy and relaxing, right? It is! Even if you have a million-dollar debt hanging over your head!
Mine, Refine, Sell, Rinse, and Repeat
Your days are time-limited and are specifically laid out so you can only do certain things at certain times. Despite that, Gemporium really is relaxing. The mornings are for mining and refining. The afternoons are spent selling your sparkly wares. The evenings are for talking to Grandma, who is such a character, and buying upgrades. Easy and structured, but you can turn on Cozy Mode if you don’t want timed days at all!
I enjoyed the repetition of Gemporium. Every day was structured, so I knew what to expect. This made for the perfect game to just turn my brain off and play. The mines are easy to navigate, and mining by hand is a relaxing chore. Upgrades helped make each process far more enjoyable, too, by increasing abilities. Even repaying the debt was hassle-free because there really was no pressure to meet deadlines. If you miss a payment day, interest is added, but earning money is not difficult. Soon enough, you’ll have more than enough.
Final Thoughts
Gemporium is on Steam now. There’s also a demo you can try out, and the game is Steam Deck verified! I think this game is perfect for gamers who love to lose themselves in the ease of a routine. It’s cute, it’s relaxing, and it’s a great gameplay experience. I give it
- Nov 14, 2025
Idle Waters is a relaxing idle game perfect for those days when you want to play something, but have work to do. Play as a cute red panda fisherman on a quest to simply fish! The game sits at the bottom of your screen and plays while you do something else. You little red panda will cast his line and collect a variety of cool fish species on his own. Or you can click around and help out with the fishing if you want.
There are 12 unique, and beautiful, biomes to enjoy, and 100 different fish to catch across them. There are even special color variants to discover. Put your favorite fish in aquariums to keep for your viewing pleasure. They’ll even produce useful items for you. Plus, you can fulfill requests to discover new areas, items, and more. Upgrades for your backpack, fishing speed, and more are available to improve your fishing experience, too. And there’s no rush, of course. Do everything at your leisure and enjoy your time fishing!
A Lovely Idle Game
Idle games generally lack with their mindless clicking and battling. However, this new wave of cozy idle games has been a breath of fresh air. And of those, Idle Waters is one of the better ones that I’ve played. Its gorgeous pixel art makes the game visually appealing, but the actual fishing, quests, and upgrades really hold my attention.
This game has fast become a favorite of the cozy idle games I’ve played because each biome is unique. From the design of it to the types of fish you can collect and treasures you discover, each area is a delight to explore. The few NPCs you encounter are also unique. There’s enough fish varieties (100! Plus the color variants!) to keep you hooked and trying to catch all of them. Plus, the little extras like upgrades, but especially the fun aquariums you can fill with your favorite fish and display on your desktop just adds even more charm to the whole operation.
If you’re looking for a cozy, charming idle game to play, Idle Waters is it. Even better is that you can resize the game. By default, it sits across the bottom of your screen. However, you can resize it so it takes up less space overall. Zoom in or out for a better viewing experience, and you can even hide it completely from view. So, if you’re easily distracted, let your little red panda fisherman do all the fishing while hidden from view!
Final Thoughts
You can find this lovely idler game on Steam now! And if you’re a fan of these slower-paced idle games, then I recommend you do grab it. It has been one of my favorites so far! I definitely give it
- Sep 4, 2025
Thank you to Broccoli Games for a copy of this lovely game!
Coffee Caravan by developer Broccoli Games is a wholesome and cozy cafe management game. Think PlateUp!, but with a pastel color palette, you only serve variations of coffee, and there are difficulty levels that affect the whole game. Start your coffee-making adventure with the smallest trailer and basic equipment. Serve a variety of different customers in order to earn money. And experience an enjoyable, but sometimes challenging cozy game with a roguelite element!
This charming game puts you in charge of running your very own, albeit tiny, coffee shop. You start your journey with the smallest trailer possible and with the basic necessities like coffee beans, a grinder, coffee pot, sink, and cups. As you complete levels and earn money, you’ll be able to access the shop to buy upgrades to your equipment, new equipment and helpful items like counters, and add more coffee recipes to your list. If you successfully complete a whole run from start to end, you’ll receive a larger trailer, too! Plus, there are decorations you can buy that offer useful buffs and you have control over how your kitchen, seating area, and decor is set up. So, organize the kitchen to best suit you, and serve some coffee!
The Coziest of Coffee Management Games
I love everything about Coffee Caravan. No, seriously. The start menu is relaxing and easy to navigate. The background music is chill, but upbeat. I enjoy the pastel aesthetic and the faceless character design adds a charm to the game. Being able to select recipes, organize my space, and decorate is a lot of fun too. The choice of easy, normal, and hard difficulties is perfect for different days. Some days I want the easy game, some days I prefer the challenge of hard difficulty. So, I have a save slot for each one!
What I’d never thought I needed was a roguelite element to my cozy games, but I love how it plays out in this one. No game will play the same as your roadmap will be different each time. And how you choose to play one map may differ from how you play others. The unique way this game lays out level choices adds freshness, too. You can choose from a laid-back level, or maybe visit the shop. Unless you prefer the challenge of a more hectic day, then choose that one and then hop on over to a bonus stage that might reward you with a new item, extra money, or even be a chance at another shopping spree at the shop. Or you’ll earn new customers or conditions to play through.
Roadmap
That’s not all that this game will have, though! In fact, the developers have just released an update for players who use macOS. This release also sees the addition of some great QoL updates like being able to switch the item in your hand with the item on a customer’s table! So, no more running to an open table or counter to free up hands. Just switch them out! There were some missing icons on recipes that have been added in, as well as a new confirmation for deleting a save on a gamepad. Then there were some optimizations to make the game even better.
The lovely developers have also release a roadmap that gives a general idea of what they’re working on and what to look forward to. First was the macOS release, which is to be followed by improvements for the Steam Deck, and the launch of a Discord server. Their goal for this summer is to release the Ice Cream World update so you can serve delicious, frosty treats instead of coffee. Plus, you get to look forward to new character accessories for customization and Russian and Korean localization. Later on this year, with no release date determined, Coffee Caravan will see the addition of Endless Mode for greater challenging fun, cat pets for you to enjoy, Twitch integration, Freeplay mode, and a new demo.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it’s a great little single player game. Play on whichever setting you prefer, and experience an ever-changing game with fascinating roguelite features. There’s also tea service you can unlock, and coming with the free summer update is ice cream! It’s a perfectly cozy game, or make it as challenging as you want, if you prefer that. Coffee Caravan really aims to provide a varied gameplay experience and they achieve that! I can’t recommend this game enough to the casual gamers out there.
I give it:
You can find Coffee Caravan on Steam now!
- May 29, 2025
ChillTown is the perfect game for cozy gamers looking to fill that ACNH void. Leave behind the hustle and bustle of your old life and take on a new role on a chill little island. There, you’ll be tasked with improving amenities, building homes and finding new residents, decorating, and more! Even hop in a sea plane and go explore other islands to gather resources unique to each biome. Even catch critters called Pals, use your net to capture bugs, fish for a variety of creatures, and start your own farm. There’s plenty to do (with more on the way) in this relaxing game, but if you ever need to step away, just set the idle function to fish or farm for you!
This Is Such an Enjoyable Game
I am not the best decorator. You won’t find me building the most elaborate or creative places like you might see across the internet. I’m also not exactly an achievement hunter who needs to complete every possible thing, either. But I still love games like ChillTown. I take satisfaction in discovering new fish and bugs to donate to the museum. Exploring the different islands you can travel to and finding new fruits and veggies to grow back home on my farm is one of my favorite things to do. I also really enjoy that there are Pals you can collect. Blending creature collecting with cozy life sim is a lovely way to draw in different gamers. Plus, the different Pals are cute!
There are some issues I’ve come across that could use some changing, though. ChillTown lets you customize your own character with some cute hairstyles and a few cute clothing options. However, I’d love to have more options. There’s not enough choice for players to really show off their own personal styles. You can get available outfits from a shop, so you can switch between them and you aren’t locked into one outfit, at least. Aiming to dig or water crops is a bit tricky, too. It takes some finagling to get the correct spot as the aiming is finicky. However, there’s some great things too, like never having to refill your watering can. I can’t express how much I hate having to get more water after splashing a couple of plants! That’s not all this game has to offer, though.
What Makes This Game Stand Out
There are so many cozy games out there, that it’s easy to get fatigued with the choices and sameness. However, ChillTown does some great things that set it apart from other games. My favorites being the save button and no stamina. There’s no forced sleep to save mechanics; something that plagues cozy games and really shouldn’t be included anymore. It forces players into either rushing through a day, going to sleep early and not even bothering to finish out the game day, or rely on the previous save and losing the day’s progress. None of that is cozy or comfy. Having a save button, though, is an excellent choice. You can save anywhere, any time. No running home to flop into bed. Just save and leave the game! You CAN sleep, though, but all that does is skip time.
No stamina drain should be commonplace now, too. Unfortunately, it’s another mechanic that’s generally included in cozy games that often just annoys people. It feels like an artificial way to slow players down, when having a better progression would be fantastic. ChillTown doesn’t use a stamina bar or stamina drain, so you can go break rocks, farm carrots, or fish all the fish you want. Your tools do have durability, though, so when that reaches zero, they break and you need to buy or craft a new one. I’m not a fan of this method, either, but the tools in this game last far longer than I expected so it’s not a deterrent to playing or enjoying the game.
There are a few other small things ChillTown does that elevate the quality of life just ever so slightly to make playing more enjoyable. The first is that shops are open 24/7. I can go to town square and buy tools or gardening supplies any time. The second is that you can speed run and skip conversations. On a first playthrough, this isn’t necessarily great, but on your second or third run, skip them! The last one is that you can walk through the tomato stakes after planting them! You don’t need to strategically plant them on the outside edges of your garden so you can access each plant and still get out of the garden. You can just walk through them like they don’t exist. And this little detail, out of all the others, really made me happy. No fighting through my garden to get to every plant now!
Look Forward to Even More Fun Updates
The developers of ChillTown just released the 1.0 update earlier this month, but they’re not stopping there. With the last few updates, the ability to sprint has been added, a museum has made its home on the island, the town now has seasonal festivals, and free placement mode was added. Which, shout out to the build mode in this game. I talked about it specifically over here, but it’s just so easy to use and allows for some fun decorating. Really, between the great build mode and the large number of decorations, your imagination is truly the limit!
Overall, I had a lot of fun playing this game. And the developers are eager to listen to players’ problems and desires. They push bug fixes regularly. They’re also present on the Steam discussion boards taking notes from posts (as well as responding to them). So, there’s hope that ChillTown can become an absolutely incredible game where you’ll sink hours upon hours of your time into. If you like games like ACNH, get this one. You’ll love it.
I give it
You can find ChillTown on Steam now!
- Apr 24, 2025
Thanks to Mudita Games and RedDeer.Games for a copy!
Pilo and the Holobook is a colorful adventure game that takes place in a far-away galaxy. You play as Pilo, the adorable fox. You’re an apprentice explorer teamed up with a scientist who dreams big, and together you set out to document the wonders and mysteries of the universe. Your teacher, Professor Chiron, has fashioned a handy notebook called the Holobook where you can record your adventures and useful items by turning them into stickers!
Explore gorgeous hand-painted planets as you document the cool, the incredible, and the weird things you come across. Turn just about everything you come across into a sticker and see what all you can collect. Even solve some mysteries along the way, but most important of all, you need to figure out how to defeat the Tar! It threatens life in this galaxy and has driven away the inhabitants already.
Can you defeat the Tar and collect all the stickers?
Sticker Collecting Fun
Unfortunately, Pilo and the Holobook is a short game. I spent around 5 hours wandering through the lovely worlds collecting everything I could get my hands on. Those short few hours were some of the best, most relaxing hours I’ve spent in a game in a long time. Not once was I bored and ready to move on, either. I was totally consumed by this cute game, and wish I had more!
There aren’t many characters in this game, but each one has such a unique and fun personality. The dialogue between Pilo and Prof is witty and hilarious. The overall storyline is absolutely heartwarming, too. The galaxy was once inhabited by people, but the Tar’s terrible presence has made each planet dangerous, so they fled. Those who stayed paint such a lovely picture of what once was that you can’t help but feel sympathy and jump in to help.
Of course, the stickers are the best thing. There’s no combat or fail states in Pilo and the Holobook. It’s just easy, relaxing sticker collecting and mystery solving. Even better, is that you could use your brain and reason out what ought to be a sticker and what may not be. Or, you could play like I did, and mindlessly shoot the Holobook at everything! Either way, gameplay was so laid-back and easy to get into. That’s part of what made the game so enjoyable. It’s easy to pick up whenever. Plus, the ending is so satisfying!
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a short game to dive right into, this is it. There’s a time and place for the longer, more all-consuming games out there, and sometimes short little 5 hour games are the perfect palette cleanser. I can’t recommend this game enough. Plus, there’s a free demo on Steam so you can try before you buy! Absolutely go pick up Pilo and the Holobook, though. It’s worth it!
I give it:
